Phoenix food bank delivers water, Gatorade to those affected by water outage

W
INDOW ROCK - Two semi trucks delivered 80,000 pounds of bottled water and Gatorade to Window Rock on Thursday as part of the effort to supply individuals affected by the water outage due to broken water lines throughout the Navajo Nation.

The donation was made by St. Mary's Food Bank, which is based in Phoenix, and was delivered after a state of emergency was declared last week by the tribe's Commission on Emergency Management and Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly.

Jerry Brown, media relations for the food bank, told FOX 10 News that the organization received the call for assistance on Wednesday and plans were quickly set to make the delivery to Window Rock.

Emergency management team members Spencer Willie and Leila Help-Tulley watched as a forklift from Navajo Housing Authority stored the donation at the Navajo Nation Fairgrounds.

"One by one, it's happening," Help-Tulley said while watching each of the 22 pellets being placed inside Nakai Hall.

But the donation will be not be stored for long, it is set for delivery to district locations set up by Navajo Tribal Utility Authority then distributed to individuals who have reported no running water, she said.

Meanwhile, Shelly is scheduled to have a conference call today with Craig Fugate, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about the ongoing situation, said Rose Whitehair, director of the tribe's Department of Emergency Management.

Crews from NTUA and Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority are continuing to work on repairing broken water lines and some areas have been restored.

For those areas, individuals may notice the water is brown. In those cases, it is advised to boil the water.

When boiling water, health professionals recommend bringing the water to a boil for at least one minute then allow it to cool before using.

It is also advised that boiled or bottled water be used for drinking, brushing teeth, washing dishes and food preparation.

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Special elections, voting district realignment among projects for tribal election office

By Bill Donovan
Special to the Times

WINDOW ROCK - This is going to be a busy year for the Nation Election Office.

Odd number years are usually a slow time for the office since the major elections for chapter officials, council and tribal president are held in even number years,

But several major projects are in store for the office, Election Director Edison Wauneka said Friday.

First up will be special elections to fill some of the 59 positions that no one ran for in last year's chapter/school board elections. Wauneka said that a special election will be held soon to replace one school board official who died recently. Since that seat was a district wide seat, the election office will have to hold he election throughout the 18 chapters in the Western Navajo Agency.

In late March, the election office will be conducting a purge of Navajo voters that is done every four years after the chapter elections.

Under tribal law, anyone who has not voted in two consecutive elections will be purged. But before this happens, the election office sends out blue postcards to warn people they are scheduled to be purged and allow them to stay on the voter registration list by sending back the postcard.

The current voter registration for the tribe is about 125,000, which comprises a good part of the tribe's adult population, assuming that the tribe's statements that are there are more than 300,000 Navajos is accurate.

Wauneka estimated that his office will be sending out between 25,000 and 30,000 postcards.

"Most of these will be returned," he said, adding that most of those that will be purged are tribal members who signed up to vote because they were required to in order to get a tribal scholarship or to enroll in various other tribal programs.

The biggest segment of the tribe's voting population is still the elderly, he said.

Another major project that will be undertaken this year will be the realignment of voting districts, which is done every 10 years. Wauneka said this has to be done in time for the 2014 council/president elections.

Federal judge sentences Two Grey Hills man for assault conviction

Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK - A federal judge in Albuquerque sentenced Travis Cohoe, of Two Grey Hills, N.M., to a year and a day in prison for an assault conviction.

Cohoe was charged in June 2011 on a two-count indictment with assault resulting in serious bodily injury and assault with a dangerous weapon.

Last September, Cohoe pleaded guilty to count one of the indictment charging him with assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Count two was dismissed after sentence was imposed on Cohoe.

He will be on supervised release for three years after completing his prison sentence and was ordered to pay restitution to the victim.

Crowpoint woman wins $70K jackpot

Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK - The New Mexico Lottery reports that Marilyn Holiday, of Crownpoint, won a $70,000 jackpot in Monday's Roadrunner Cash drawing.

Holiday played numbers that she selected and discovered she won Tuesday when she checked the ticket with the numbers posted on the lottery's website. She also won a $200 prize on a second wager for the same drawing.

She told lottery officials that she plans to use the money to pay bills and attend a family reunion.

Other recent winners include Cecil Etsitty, of Tsé Bonito, N.M., who won $35,000 from the Roadrunner Cash drawing and Sarah Fisher, of Gallup, who won a $1,500 Scratcher prize.